Did mRNA vaccine creator, Ozlem Tureci, just develop Bell’s palsy after getting vaccinated against COVID-19?! Find out what the facts really are!
Updated @ 2024-01-12 : Added more information on Bell’s palsy and Justin Bieber
Originally posted @ 2024-01-11
Claim : mRNA Vaccine Creator Has Bell’s Palsy!
People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch) and The Daily Sceptic (archive), claiming or suggesting that the co-creator of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine creator, Ozlem Tureci, is suffering from Bell’s palsy after getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
The People’s Voice even alleges in its article that there was a media blackout. Here’s an excerpt:
mRNA Vaccine Creator Has Developed Full-Blown Facial Paralysis – Media Blackout
Here is an excerpt from The Daily Sceptic. Please skip to the next section for the facts.
BioNTech-Pfizer Vaccine Creator Obviously Suffers From Bell’s Palsy – But No One Talks About It
Recommended : Were COVID-19 Vaccines Recalled After 40K Deaths?!
BioNTech founders – Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci
No Evidence mRNA Vaccine Creator Has Bell’s Palsy!
This appears to be yet another example of FAKE NEWS, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Bell’s Palsy Not Commonly Seen With COVID-19 Vaccines
Bell’s palsy is not commonly seen with COVID-19 vaccines. In fact, it is not even officially listed as a COVID-19 vaccine side effect.
Studies (example) have shown that the post-vaccination incidence of Bell’s palsy is about the same as that of the baseline incidence.
- Baseline : 25 cases per 100,000 population per year
- Post-vaccination : 25.3 cases per 100,000 population per year
When people point out that four people in the Pfizer clinical trial developed Bell’s palsy, they conveniently leave out the fact that with the large sample size, roughly four people were expected to develop Bell’s palsy even without vaccination. So the incidence of Bell’s palsy in the Pfizer clinical trial was within normal incidence.
Fact #2 : Ozlem Tureci Does Not Appear To Have Bell’s Palsy!
Frankly, it is a terrible idea to remotely diagnose any medical condition. But as far as I can see, Dr. Ozlem Tureci does not appear to have Bell’s palsy.
Bell’s palsy presents as the sudden muscle weakness or paralysis on one side of the face. If Ozlem has Bell’s palsy, she won’t just have a drooping eyelid. She will have facial paralysis on the left side of her face – the left side of her mouth would also droop with a loss of the nasolabial fold, and she would not be able to close her eyes.
If you watch the videos which show her with a drooping eyelid, you can see that she’s speaking normally, and the corner of her mouth isn’t drooping to the left. There is also a visible nasolabial fold on the left side. All indications that she does not have Bell’s palsy.
Instead, Ozlem Tureci just appears to have ptosis – the drooping of her left eyelid. This is common in older people.
Fact #3 : Ozlem Had Drooping Eyelid Before mRNA Vaccine Approval
Dr. Ozlem Tureci was seen sporting a ptosis before the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 was ever approved for use in December 2020.
When The New York Times published its story on Dr. Özlem and her partner-husband, Dr. Uğur Şahin, on 10 November 2020, the marquee photo showed her with a pronounced ptosis – drooping of her left eyelid.
Yet, you can clearly see that her mouth was not drooping on the left side, and she still had a prominent nasolabial fold on the left side of her face.
Recommended : Did COVID-19 Vaccines Cause 17 Million Deaths?!
Fact #4 : Ozlem Had Drooping Eyelid As Early As 2016
Just in case you are wondering if she might have secretly tested the BioNTech mRNA vaccine on herself, she already had that ptosis more than 3 years before the COVID-19 pandemic started, and more than 4 years before the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine was approved.
On 29 August 2016, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper published a video on Dr. Özlem Türeci and Dr. Uğur Şahin developing customised cancer treatments.
In that video, you can clearly see that Dr. Ozlem already had a visible ptosis. But again, she was able to speak clearly, her mouth did not droop on the left side, and she had a visible nasolabial fold on the left.
Fact #5 : Bell’s Palsy Is Temporary
While the symptoms of Bell’s palsy are similar to that of a stroke, it isn’t a serious condition. Neither is it debilitating as some have suggested or claimed.
Bell’s palsy is also temporary – most people recover within 3 weeks, even without treatment. A small percentage will take 3-6 months to recover. Patients are generally treated with corticosteroids to speed recovery.
Even if Dr. Ozlem had Bell’s palsy at any point in time, it would have resolved by itself or with treatment, within a few months. As she appears to have a drooping left eyelid for at least 7.5 years now, her ptosis is most definitely not from Bell’s palsy.
Fact #6 : Justin Bieber Did Not Have Bell’s Palsy
Some people appear to be (intentionally?) conflating Ramsay Hunt Syndrome with Bell’s palsy. They have suggested or claimed that Justin Bieber was another victim of Bell’s palsy from COVID-19 vaccination. That’s simply not true.
Justin Bieber had Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, not Bell’s palsy. On top of that, he explained in June 2022 that his facial paralysis was caused by a viral infection.
I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome and it is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear and my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis.
As you can see this eye is not blinking. I can’t smile on this side of my face; this nostril will not move. So there’s full paralysis on this side of my face.
Recommended : Did Justin Bieber Get Facial Paralysis From COVID Vaccine?!
Fact #7 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Publishing Fake News
The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.
Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.
Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should NEVER share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice. Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:
- Did Australia Approve Mandatory Bill Gates mRNA Vaccine?!
- Did Top Docs Just Warn UK Parliament About Deadly Vaccines?!
- Did Iceland Ban COVID Vaccines After Sudden Deaths?!
- Is Bill Gates Facing Life Behind Bars For Child Rape?!
- Japan Confirmed All COVID Variants Were Engineered?!
- Was Tom Hanks Just Accused Of Child Sex Crimes?!
- Did WEF Order Arrests Of Climate Change Deniers?!
- Did Japan Order Investigation Of COVID-19 Vaccine Deaths?!
The Daily Sceptic is also known for publishing misinformation. You should never share anything they post, until you have verified them to be true and accurate.
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
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